I watched this film on TV only during my childhood. It
impressed me very much because of the subject : “the French participation in the
American War of Independence” (1775 – 1783). Also, to-date, it is the only
movie about the General Marquis de La Fayette who was one of the great figure
of the American and French History of the period. That’s why it is a very special
movie to me.

Original US poster (1963)

The Story : “ In 1777, the Marquis de La
Fayette (portrayed by Michel Le Royer) joins the American insurgents in their
fight for liberty against England. He freighted a ship to America with a handful of friends
and some weapons. When he arrives in Philadelphia in face of the American
Congress, he explains that he comes to America, at his great personal expense
and sacrifice, only to fight for freedom. He adds that he renounces any
military rank. But Congress realizes his sincerity and unanimous accepts him as
a Major General. Soon, he becomes George Washington's best friend. They fight together
at the Battle of Yorktown in which Washington (Howard St-John) gets the
surrender of the English General, Cornwallis (Jack Hawkins)” with the help of
an Army of French soldiers (under the command of the Lieutenant General Comte
de Rochambeau) and the French Navy (headed by Admiral De Grasse).

Jean Dréville was one of the most very prolific French director of the
50’s. A lot of his movies became French remakes later on. The first was a very
fine version of Alexandre Dumas’ Queen Margot (“La Reine Margot”/1954) with the
legendary actress Jeanne Moreau in the title role. In 1996, Patrice Chéreau
directed a new version with the gorgeous Isabelle Adjani. “Les Choristes”
(2003) directed by Christophe Barratier with Gérard Jugnot was a remake of “La
Cage aux Rossignols” with Noël-Noël.

In 1948, Jean Dréville directed “La Bataille de l’eau lourde” with the help
of the actual Norwegian resistance fighters who prevented the Germans from
securing a key ingredient needed for their atomic research during WW II : “Heavy
Water”. In 1965, the American director, Anthony Mann (“El Cid”/ 1962) directed a
remake of this movie with Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris, under the title of “The
Heroes of Telemark”.

But for “La Fayette”, Dréville believed so much in the making of this
epic historical drama that he decided to become a co-producer with another French
talented director-producer Jean Devaivre (“Alerte au Sud” / 1953). Dréville directed
the movie during seven months (from February to August 1961) in Serbia and in
France.

To complete the casting, the distinguished British
actor Jack Hawkins (“Ben-Hur” (William Wyler / 1959), “Lawrence of Arabia” (David
Lean / 1962)) portrayed a very witty General Cornwallis. For the second time,
the legendary Actor-Director Orson Welles (“Citizen Kane” (1941)) played the impressive
part of Benjamin Franklin for a French Production (“Si Versailles m’était
conté” directed by Sacha Guitry / 1953).

To portray the leading role of the Marquis de La
Fayette, the talented Jaques Charrier (“Les Tricheurs” (Marcel Carné / 1958)) was
the first choice but eventually the young actor of the French theater (“La
Comédie Française”), Michel Le Royer, got the leading part.

Le Royer was best known as one of the greatest star of
several popular historic French TV series like “Alexandre Dumas’ Le Chevalier
de Maison-Rouge” (Claude Barma / 1963) and “Corsaires et Flibustiers” (Claude
Barma / 1966).

In passing, people may be interested in hearing that in
1971, Le Royer portrayed for the second time the character of La Fayette in “Le
Voyageur des Siècles”, a TV sci-fi mini-series written by Noël-Noël, still under the
direction of Jean Dréville. The third chapter (“Le grain de sable”), took place
many years after the American war of Independence. La Fayette remembered about
the glorious days of his youth with two French scientists who travel through the
time with the aim to change the course of the History and the French
Revolution.

But as to “La Fayette”, the producer Maurice Jacquin succeeded in gathering a
colossal budget (some rumors said around one billion of Francs !) It was the
most important French movie ever produced at that time without the cooperation
of an American Film Major Cie.

The movie was photographed in Super
Technirama 70 (Technicolor and Stereophonic Sound 6 tracks) at the Victorine /
Nice Studios and at the Chateau de Versailles, France. The Battle of Yorktown
was shot at the Avala Studios, Belgrade, Serbia with more than 5000 extras !

Jack Hawkins, Orson Welles and all the rest of a fine cast
gave a very convincing performance. Also, it must be noted that for his first
great international appearance on the big screen, Michel Le Royer was a
spirited Marquis de La Fayette who was really involved in all the generous ideas
of the American Revolution. His intimate scenes with Jack Hawkins and Howard St-John were very good.

Howard Saint-John and Michel Le Royer

The film received very good reviews from the European audience
and the critics. It took the 5th rank just after “The Guns of
Navarone” (Jack Lee Thompson) at the French Box office. In 1963, “La Fayette”
was distributed by CINERAMA in the United States where the movie received a
polite response because of Jacquin’s reluctance in having any American Studio
involved in the production.

Nevertheless, “La Fayette” is a very fine
entertainment and remains one of the rare movie which reminds of how important
was the French help in the fight of Americans in getting their independence. It
is a good reason not to forget and to rediscover the Jean Dréville’s audacious
movie.

Pascale Audret and Michel Le Royer

The restored
version of “La Fayette”

In 1988, Jean Dréville wanted to restore the movie for
the Bicentenary of the French Revolution, but the original negative was lost.
So he asked for the help of the American distributors to find old copies in the
aim to recreate a new negative. Fortunately, with a lot of patience and
efforts, he succeeded in the restoration of the movie that got the same quality
of perfection as at the time of the premiere at the Opera of Paris in 1962. It
was showed at the first French “CinéMémoire Festival” of Paris in 1991.

A spirited Marquis de La Fayette

A new movie on La Fayette ?

In 2011, some rumors reported that Vincent Cassel could
portray the part of La Fayette in a new movie by Jean-François Richet (“Mesrine
: Killer Instinct” and “Mesrine : Public Enemy Number One” / 2008)...No news to-date…unfortunately…

US Souvenir Book Cover

The French Version of The Movie (2h14min)

Here are some stills from my collection :

Michel Le Royer and Rosanna Schiaffino

(Portuguese Souvenir Book Cover)

P. S. : If you want to know more about “La
Fayette”, please refer to :

● Books :

“La Fayette” by Jean Dréville, the US Souvenir
Book (In English), 1963, Cinerama, US. (This book includes movie production information,
actors' and actresses' biographies, as well as, synopsis information about the
movie…).